Nerys
by Lovingh3art
Summary: The Doctor asks Donna what she meant when she mentioned a specific name the first time they met. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or the characters from it that appear in this story. They were created and are owned by BBC.**

 **Special thanks to Bellgram for beta reading this!**

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"What th' hell is wrong with this blasted thing?"

The Doctor nervously turned to his companion, his eyebrow arched in concern. "Donna, relax. The TARDIS is going to get there when she gets there. 'Course, it could be a while, but still…"

"Oi! Don't play funny with me, spaceman!" Donna whirled and stormed over to the railing, picking up her phone with great effort. "I don't wanna miss my first eclipse from in space!"

He rolled his eyes. "There's always more…" he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!"

He sighed and moved back to the controls. His finger was about to hit a metallic button, but then paused.

"Who's Nerys, Donna?"

The autumn-haired woman stopped dead and glanced back. "Beg your pardon?"

"When we first met, you mentioned some woman called Nerys," he elaborated. "Remember? Wedding gown? Accusations? The name Nerys being thrown about?"

"Oh…" She put the phone down and looked to him. "Wait a minute. You don't remember? She's my – well, was my friend. But really, Doctor! And you can't remember? She's the blonde that was dancin' with Lance when we came in the reception!"

The Doctor's eyebrows got heavier until it all dawned on him. "Ohhhh…." He trailed off in realization. "Ah, that woman. Right. Got it."

"And you call yourself a time lord," Donna snorted. "More like time bloke…"

"Well, excuse me, I didn't know!" He retorted, then collected himself. "But here's the thing. Why were you thinking she'd got you back? Not you like scratched her back or something…right?

"About that…" Donna trailed off, her eyes rolling around the catacomb-like structure of the TARDIS to escape. But being that she was boxed in, eventually they returned to face the Doctor. "Honestly, it's complicated."

"I can handle it."

"Course you can…Look, Doctor, before we met, I was…feisty."

"Sure you don't mean loud?" He remarked.

"Oi! I'm trying to tell a story here!"

"Sorry," he sheepishly apologized. His hand gestured for her to come closer.

Donna conceded and walked till she was opposite him, next to the central console. "As I was saying…well, I was feisty. Had a loud temper and didn't really know much of it. Nerys kind of…helped bolster that."

He hummed in listening to her. "Bolster? How so?"

"Let's just say…I may have…taken money from my unknowing mum for a cab to a party."

The comment shocked him. "You stole money from your mother? Donna!"

"Pack it in, spaceman! It was only once, so yeah, I felt bad about it!" she huffed a couple times to a more considerable degree. "Anyhow, me and her, going out late, nabbing boys, getting mad. It was a pattern. Went on for a while even after high school, I remember."

"Uh-huh." His temple seemed to enlarge while she blabbered on. "What changed?"

"Well," began Donna, "me and her both wanted to get this job as temps at this business agency. And this was before I went to H.C. Clements, mind. But the morning before our interviews, I heard that they had started earlier than they said. Could've told Nerys since she was my friend and all, but…I didn't."

She licked her lips, looking to the TARDIS console and screens in reminiscence. "When I saw her next, she got a bit of a mood. Yellin' at me and sayin how I wasn't true. Good thing the jobs worked out for both of us, though. She got a temp job down the street. And we kept talking for a while."

"Hmmm…" The Doctor hummed in thought. "That's dandy, but yet, why worry about her?"

"Dunno, really. Always thought we'd moved over it," she explained. "But there was always this thing in the back of my brain. Me thinking she wasn't happy." Suddenly, she turned to her alien friend. "What do you reckon, Doctor? You ever had a friend that you never could understand?"

The time-lord gulped, his eyes frozen in place. He didn't initially respond and that worried Donna.

"…Once," he answered. The way he said it was stationary but heightened. This was one of the times she felt he was holding something back, and doing so pained him in the process. "We used to be friends. But things didn't go according to plan. We…diverged, and haven't made peace since."

"Sounds rough."

"One way to put it." He looked down at his screwdriver, the determination seemingly back. "Not like I can figure out you and your friendship. But think on the bright side! The way things went with Nerys, you got to join me here. Better to explore, eh?"

"Yeah," Donna agreed, nodding. "Now, we gonna' see that eclipse or not, spaceman?"

Back to smiling again, the Doctor dashed to the other side of the console and swung the lever. Immediately, the TARDIS rocked and hummed. "One charged eclipse coming right up!"

"Get in!" Donna exclaimed. "Now this is going to be a rocking good time!"

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 **Thanks for reading! I just felt really confused by Nerys and how nobody really capitalized on talking about it. While I later understood through research who she was, it seemed sensible to try to illustrate that here. Please favorite, follow, and review if you fancy!**


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